


Chasing Tails

by LullBearBlue



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 14:22:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12843042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LullBearBlue/pseuds/LullBearBlue
Summary: A midnight walk in the woods?That doesn't sound like Merlin...





	1. Chapter One

Arthur woke with a start as his dreams wrenched him from his sleep. He looked around the dark room and decided it was midnight, probably later in fact. Yawning, the king peeled back his covers as he climbed out of the giant bed. The air cold against his bare chest.

He rubbed his eyes as he walked towards the window near the fire. He’d do this as a boy whenever he had a nightmare. The quiet courtyard always seemed to calm his mind. It was as much of an escape as he could get while he was king now.

When he was the prince and his father had ruled, he had more free time. He could hunt or train or read even but as king his spare time was minimal, so he savoured the moments like this when he woke up at night. When no one else was awake and the quiet pooled in his ears.

The courtyard was huge. Too big to be as deserted as it was when he woke like this. Well, it was deserted aside from one man; a tall, gangly one, walking in the direction of the gates.

Arthur almost dismissed it until he saw the shadows on what was around the man's neck. And it was that fact that made him put on a shirt, his shoes and a woollen cloak, quickly tying his sword around his waist as he ran after the man.

He’d know that bloody neckerchief anywhere…


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now this is troubling...

The king rushed down the masses of stairwells that lead to the courtyard. He was able to get down them in record time because nobody stood in his way.

Arthur ran as silently as his feet would allow after his servant who, knowing Merlin, had gotten himself into something troubling. Seeing as he wouldn’t be going to the tavern this late.

As he ran after Merlin, Arthur decided he wouldn’t confront his servant because it may very well be nothing. He would only intervene if the situation was out of Merlin’s clumsy hands. 

He caught up to the serving boy in no time and followed silently behind him as he left the city and headed toward the forest. Arthur almost laughed, surely Merlin knew he had knights patrolling this area in case of an attack from Morgana’s men. Though, the knights did know not to hurt Merlin, a servant that loyal was hard to come by.

And so Arthur continued to follow the boy until he saw one of the knights that were on patrol that evening. Lancelot. Lancelot was a brave knight, he had saved Arthur’s live as many as Arthur had saved his. And he was friends with Merlin, he wouldn’t let him go without asking what was going on.

What surprised Arthur, was the fact that Merlin headed straight for Lancelot. The knight dismounted his horse as he saw Merlin coming. The two men rushed towards each other and threw themselves into an embrace.

“I’ve missed you Merlin.” said Lancelot as they released from each others arm.

Merlin gave a small laugh, “We saw each other this afternoon.”

The two men, despite having released from their hug, still held onto each other. Lancelot had his hands on Merlin's waist and Merlin had his arms wrapped around Lancelot's neck. Confusion flashed across Arthur’s face but was replaced with shock as Lancelot put one of his hands on the back of Merlin's neck and pressed his lips to those of Arthur’s servant.

Merlin shivered as Lancelot’s hand came into contact with his skin.

“Your hands are cold Lance.”

Lance?

Lancelot laughed lightly. “Sorry. Maybe you should warm them up for me?”

Merlin smiled as he leaned closer to Lancelot. “Maybe you should miss me more often. That way we could do this more.”

Lancelot said something in reply to Merlin but Arthur couldn’t hear it because he had already started on his way back to the castle, his thoughts a mess.


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stumble into the room... Crap.

The next morning, Merlin stumbled into the room, neckerchief and all, to start his chores for the day. The first of which was to wake up and dress the king who sat on the chair in front of the unlit fire, already dressed.

“Wow, Arthur.” The king looked up in shock as if he didn’t know that his servant was there. “Who would have thought that his majesty could get dressed without the help of his trusty servant?”

“I do know how to get dressed Merlin,” The king replied snarkily. “It’s not a skill that only you possess, though even you haven’t seemed to have mastered it.”

“Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” Arthur scowled at his servant. “Fine, what is it?”

There were a few seconds of silence before it was broken.

“How often does it happen?” The words just tumbled out of Arthur’s mouth before he could stop them.

Merlin furrowed his brows. “How often does what happen?”

“The sneaking off in the middle of the night. How often does it happen?” 

Panic coursed through Merlin’s veins. “I do-”

“Merlin! I know you know what I’m talking about. How often?”

Merlin sighed “N-not that often, maybe once every week.”

“Why?” Arthur knew something, Merlin could feel it. But what?

“Because I need to be alone sometimes.”

“Is that why Lancelot is there with you?” Shock was written all over Merlin’s face as he tried to come up with a lie or an excuse.

A few seconds passed before Merlin sputtered out a pathetic “...What?”

Arthur’s voice quietened, almost to a whisper, as he said: “I saw you sneaking off, so I followed you.” Merlin sat down on one of the chairs by Arthur’s dining table.

“I thought you might have gotten yourself into trouble.” Merlin was silent. “Merlin?”

Merlin continued to be silent. He couldn’t think of what to say to the blond man standing in front of him. The words got lost as his mind was spiralling out of control.

“Merlin? Please don’t sit just sit there. You know how annoying I find you when you’re quiet.”

This sparked a reaction from Merlin as he asked his question quietly “How much did you see?”

Whatever the question was, Arthur couldn’t hear it because his servant spoke so quietly. Something that almost never happened.

“Speak up, Merlin.” Arthur ordered, annoyance creeping into his voice.

Merlin looked at him with tears gathering in his eyes. “How much did you see Arthur?”

Arthur sighed as he sat next to his servant at the table. 

“Not much. Honestly I thought you were an idiot if you were trying to sneak out of Camelot because of all the knights on patrol. But then you started walking directly towards Lancelot. I saw you hug each other and talk to each other which I thought was pretty normal, aside from the fact that it was gone midnight and you snuck out,” Merlin beckoned for him to continue. Arthur coughed and muttered a ‘sorry’ before carrying on with his recollection of the night before. “But then you-er, well you didn’t let go of each other, and you held each other like a couple would. Then he kissed you and it-, well it clicked into place what was happening. So, I left.”

Merlin let out a sigh of relief. Clearly glad that Arthur didn’t see anymore than he had, and quite frankly, Arthur was glad of it too. What they did behind closed curtains was their own business.

“After that, I came back to the castle. I went to my room but no matter what I did I couldn’t get back to sleep. So I-, I just sat here thinking. For hours. Mostly it was what I’d say to you. And the fact that you hadn’t told me what was happening. I was angry in the beginning. I was angry for a while actually.” Arthur laughed, bitterness snapping at his tongue. “I wondered how I didn’t wake everybody in the castle up with my yelling, when in reality I never made a sound. Then I realised that lately you’d been happier, you’d been doing your duties better. And then I realised that Lancelot was the one making you happy. When I realised that, I wasn’t so angry anymore.”

Arthur looked up from his hands into the face of a teary-eyed Merlin.

“Are you going to sack me?” Merlin’s words stunned him. When he processed the meaning behind them he looked at his servant as if he were mad. “Don’t be daft, Merlin. Servants like you are hard to come by, sure you may be a total idiot, but in the years you’ve been my servant, you’ve grown to be my friend. I don’t have many of those, especially now that I’m king. I’d make myself look a fool if I sacked you.”

“But doesn’t my- whatever I have with Lancelot, bother you?”

Arthur looked at his hands and shook his head. “I’m not going to lie, it did in the beginning. Considering he’s a Knight of Camelot and you’re my servant. But then I thought about it for hours on end and realised that it’d be foolish to be bothered by it.”

“Arthur I-” Merlin’s words caught in his throat. “Just, thank you.”

“No problem,” The softness in his voice was gone now. “Now, get to work. You still have to polish my armor, muck out the horses, clean my clothes and clean my room.”

Merlin nodded quickly as he rushed to start polishing Arthur armor.

“And Merlin?” Merlin stopped and turned around. “Yes Sire?”

“I will be talking to Lancelot about this you do realise.” Merlin’s face went blank but he nodded stiffly while silently hoping that Arthur wouldn’t do anything too terrible.


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's certainly one way to do it.

Arthur’s sword came crashing down into Lancelot’s shield with much more force than necessary. Even if he won’t admit it, Arthur was still a bit angry about the Merlin/Lancelot ordeal.

Lancelot staggered back at the resulting force of the blow. Clearly not expecting Arthur to hit that hard. His arm was beginning to tire with the repetitive contact from his king’s sword. 

“Lancelot. Keep your shield up, lowering it will give Morgana’s men an extra place to strike and therefore an extra place to kill you.”

“Yes my lord.” Lancelot puffed as he raised his shield arm. Arthur's sword once again came crashing down onto the shield harder than before. Forcing Lancelot to the ground.

With a loud sigh, Arthur held out a hand for Lancelot and pulled him up. Lancelot staggering as he regained his balance.

“Are you alright Arthur? You look tense.” Lancelot could tell something was bothering Arthur, he needed to know.

“Nonsense,” Arthur said blankly. “Shield up.”

“Yes, Sire.” Lancelot raised his shield and planted his feet. The force of Arthur’s sword almost knocked him on his ass again.  
\---  
“You’re all dismissed. Training is finished for the day.” Lancelot began to walk to the armoury with the other knights.

“Lancelot. I need to speak with you.” Lancelot began walking over to Arthur when a hand patted his shoulder. The knight turned to see Gwaine with a shit-eating grin on his face and Percival smiling behind him.

Lancelot rolled his eyes at the two men and made his way over to Arthur.

“You wished to see me, Sire?” Lancelot bowed at the hip slightly.

“You don’t need to bow Lancelot. I’ve told you that before.” Lancelot bowed slightly again, and Arthur rolled his eyes.

“What was it you wanted to speak to me about?” He said, trying to recall whatever he’d done in the past few days that could warrant a speaking to.

“How long have you been seeing Merlin?”

Lancelot’s jaw dropped.


End file.
